Railfan Technology > PC Computer security

These are general recommendations:

1) Ensure you have a top quality up-to-date anti-virus software installed. NOD32, AVG, Kapersky and ResolutionsMSP (a packaged security software that I resell) are top recommendations. Although I used to sell and recommend Symantec (Norton) products, I nor longer do since they are now considered bloatware. I do not recommend anything from McCrappy either.
2) Install and configure Windows Defender, free from Microsoft.
3) Keep your computer up-to-date.
4) Properly configure Internet Explorer. Your settings should be not what every one says, which is to accept all cookies. It must be set to prompt for 1st party cookies and block for 3rd party cookies.
5) If you use Firefox, you must keep it up to date.
6) You have to use a full featured firewall. Hardware firewalls are best, but expensive. (I recommend, support and sell SonicWall firewalls.) Stay away from Linksys. Netgear is a recommend brand. If you can not afford a seperate hard ware firewall, then use a firewall installed on your computer. NOTE: The included Microsoft Firewall is basic and is there only if you have nothing else. You need more than that. PC Tools and Zone Alarm are 2 top recommendations.

If you have a MAC and love MACs, fine and dandy. No need to respond or reply. The MAC vs. PC debate is not a part of this thread.

It doesn't need to turn into a Mac vs. Windows debate to be a useful thread on the topic of PC security. Macs are PCs too, and are OCCASIONALLY vulnerable to security issues.

On the Mac side, the most important thing you can do to stay secure is to install the incremental OS updates as they are released. These often have security updates built into the OS code. If you use MS Office, same thing. Install the incremental updates (I guess MS calls them Service Packs).

Also, from experience, I highly recommend downloading OS updates and running them locally rather than updating through the built-in Software Update feature. I have never had a problem doing a OS update locally, whereas I've had several updates run through the SW Update feature fail miserably.

Finally, keep your browsers (Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, etc.) and their extensions/plug-ins up to date.

Cheers!

jst3751 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> These are general recommendations:
>
> 1) Ensure you have a top quality up-to-date
> anti-virus software installed. NOD32, AVG,
> Kapersky and ResolutionsMSP (a packaged security
> software that I resell) are top recommendations.
> Although I used to sell and recommend Symantec
> (Norton) products, I nor longer do since they are
> now considered bloatware. I do not recommend
> anything from McCrappy either.
> 2) Install and configure Windows Defender, free
> from Microsoft.
> 3) Keep your computer up-to-date.
> 4) Properly configure Internet Explorer. Your
> settings should be not what every one says, which
> is to accept all cookies. It must be set to prompt
> for 1st party cookies and block for 3rd party
> cookies.
> 5) If you use Firefox, you must keep it up to
> date.
> 6) You have to use a full featured firewall.
> Hardware firewalls are best, but expensive. (I
> recommend, support and sell SonicWall firewalls.)
> Stay away from Linksys. Netgear is a recommend
> brand. If you can not afford a seperate hard ware
> firewall, then use a firewall installed on your
> computer. NOTE: The included Microsoft Firewall is
> basic and is there only if you have nothing else.
> You need more than that. PC Tools and Zone Alarm
> are 2 top recommendations.
>
> If you have a MAC and love MACs, fine and dandy.
> No need to respond or reply. The MAC vs. PC debate
> is not a part of this thread.

jst,

Forgot the most important thing of all:

If you receive email from somebody you do not know. And it contains ANY attachments. DO NOT OPEN IT. Send it to the trash ASAP. The number one vector for viruses are infected emails. Followed by phishing emails wanting you to fill something out.

J.

J.Ferris Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> jst,
>
> Forgot the most important thing of all:
>
> If you receive email from somebody you do not
> know. And it contains ANY attachments. DO NOT OPEN
> IT. Send it to the trash ASAP. The number one
> vector for viruses are infected emails. Followed
> by phishing emails wanting you to fill something
> out.
>
> J.

Didn't really forget, I did not want people to feel a false sense of security by thinking that email from people they know is fine. IT IS NOT!

There is a lot of viri and spam out there that will either purport to be from some one you know, or worse, actually be from some one you know as their computer is infected.

In truth, ALL EMAIL MUST BE CONSIDERED SUSPECT! When I have a chance, I will try to write up a list of things to look for in an email that can raise flags.

You can take things a step further if you want to invest in the necessary hardware and software and create a pristine image (free of viruses/malware/spyware/etc) of your operating system and use a product like Norton Ghost (I've been using this or Save & Restore for years with great success) to back it up onto another physical hard drive. If you have a problem, restore your image, problem solved! Been doing this on the past 3 computers I've built over the past several years with great success though it's time consuming, it can save your "posterior" if something goes wrong with your operating system!!! As far as critical files such as MP3's/pictures/etc, you should never store these on your system hard drive (C: Drive), rather put another hard drive in your computer or back that stuff up on an external hard drive or on DVD's, your system drive should be just that, housing only your Operating System and installed software.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/05/10 23:04 by Amtrak288.

For the Mac users (I'm one of them), here's a link to the "Month of Apple Bugs" http://projects.info-pull.com/moab/. Thirty-one Mac holes which could have been virus exploits. They include some scary negligence which should have led to questions like "Didn't you compile this with warnings on? Did you "read" the warnings? And by the way, why even hack into Mac code when you car (or could) get away with stuff like this? http://www.nucalc.com/Story/. (Two former Apple contractors continue to show up for work at Apple after their contracts end, each pretending to work for the other. No managers to deal with. Even a 20% layoff cannot affect then because they *are not on the payroll.*)

For the Windows users, this cartoon says it best. IMO. http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/columns/bizarre_cathedral_8

Amtrak288 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You can take things a step further if you want to
> invest in the necessary hardware and software and
> create a pristine image (free of
> viruses/malware/spyware/etc) of your operating
> system and use a product like Norton Ghost (I've
> been using this or Save & Restore for years with
> great success) to back it up onto another physical
> hard drive. If you have a problem, restore your
> image, problem solved!

Yes, very good advice. An even better program is Paragon Software Drive Backup which can make/update an image on the fly. With Ghost, the image has to be made off-line.

As an IT Professional, I actually use both products.

I just wanted to say thank you to jst3751 and to the others who are posting this computer safety information. I just threw away a 160 gig hard drive that had a lot of good pictures of hard to replace things because it got infected with a seriously bad virus. I was told by a man who is a systems analyst for a banking group in Texas that there are a couple of really bad viruses and worms out there right now and he said that this stuff is so bad that it's best to just throw away a hard drive that is infected than it is to reformat it and try to use it again. He said not to take the chance with that hard drive, so now that hard drive is well on its way to the city landfill.

Con

xtra1188w Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> He said not to take the
> chance with that hard drive, so now that hard
> drive is well on its way to the city landfill.
>
> Con

Hard drives are one of those items that can not be "sent to the landfill" at least not in California. They are considered electronic hazardous waste. The easist way to "get rid of" a hard drive is: a) take a hammer to the center of the hard drive, damaging the spindle and b) taking the now damaged drive to a household hazardous waste round up.

While it is possible to render an infested hard drive safe and usable, if there happens to be a newer root kit on the hard drive, it can be extremely difficult to find and clean that.

Pretty outdated site for the Apple Bug of the Month.......

video7105 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pretty outdated site for the Apple Bug of the
> Month.......

It was "Month of Bugs," not "Bug of the Month." The month of bugs was January 2007. The site is only outdated if the bugs are fixed. Apple does not generally acknowledge software bugs, so it is hard to track the turn-around time for fixes.

I'd recommend using PeerBlock. PeerBlock blocks intruders (Corporations, Gov't, Hackers, etc.) from accessing your machine. Keep in mind that it's not an antivirus or antispyware utility. It's an IP Blocker. IP Blocking software is sorta similar to Firewall software but is more selective and customizable.

For Antispyware, a combination of Ad Aware Free & Malwarebytes I recommend.

ALSO,
If your machine does get a virus, Smitfraud Fix is very useful. You will need to reconfigure the clock from 24 hour Military time back to 12 hour AM/PM time after using Smitfraud Fix.

trainjunkie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Also, from experience, I highly recommend
> downloading OS updates and running them locally
> rather than updating through the built-in Software
> Update feature. I have never had a problem doing a
> OS update locally, whereas I've had several
> updates run through the SW Update feature fail
> miserably.
> Cheers!

yes, download the combo updater from apple's site. that includes all patches/fixes/feature updates since the original release. those have been the most reliable, in my experience

Here's the 10.6.3 combo.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/10 10:10 by dirkb.